Carlos Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz fought to a split draw on Saturday, February 22, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, so Adames kept the WBC middleweight title. One judge scored it 115-114 for Sheeraz, one 118-110 for Adames, and the third 114-114.
The draw ended Sheeraz’s run of 15 knockouts in a row. It was his first world title fight, and he left it at 21-0-1, while Adames moved to 24-1-1.
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How the fight went
Sheeraz used his four-inch height and two-inch reach advantages early and controlled the first rounds with his jab, ESPN reported. He waited until the fourth round to throw his right hand with any conviction.
Adames did his best work in the second half. He had more success at close range in the sixth, landed an arching right hand in the eighth, and finished strongly after Sheeraz briefly shook him with a left hook in the 11th.
| Judge’s card | Score |
|---|---|
| Judge 1 | 115-114 Sheeraz |
| Judge 2 | 118-110 Adames |
| Judge 3 | 114-114 |
What this page called before the fight
These are the bets this page published before the fight, quoted as they were, with how each one settled.
| Bet as published | How it settled |
|---|---|
| Hamzah Sheeraz (-255) | Did not win: the fight was a draw |
| Under 10.5 rounds | Lost: the fight went 12 rounds |
| Will the fight go the distance? No (-165) | Lost: it went the distance |
| Sheeraz via TKO/KO/DQ (+120) | Lost |
| Either winner in rounds 9-12 (+300) | Lost |
The -255 price implied a 71.8% chance of a Sheeraz win. The page also listed a draw at +1600, which implied 5.9%. A draw on a two-way moneyline is settled by each book’s own rules, so check them before betting a close fight.
What Sheeraz and Adames did next
Sheeraz moved up to super middleweight. He stopped Edgar Berlanga in the fifth round in New York in July 2025, then won the vacant WBO super middleweight title on May 23, 2026, stopping Alem Begic at 2:33 of the second round at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. He defended it on July 25, 2026, with a majority decision over Simon Zachenhuber in Saudi Arabia (115-113, 116-112, 114-114).
On September 18, 2026, the WBO confirmed that Sheeraz had given up the title rather than face his mandatory challenger, Janibek Alimkhanuly. The Zachenhuber win had taken him to 24-0-1 with 19 knockouts.
Adames was due to defend the WBC title against Austin Williams at Madison Square Garden on January 31, 2026, and withdrew the day before because of an illness. ESPN reported then that he had not fought since the draw.
Neither man has a fight on ESPN’s boxing schedule, updated September 24, 2026, so this page names no price. The next big cards are in our boxing odds and predictions, and to compare the books that price boxing, see our sportsbook reviews.